What are PBDEs?

PBDEs is the shorthand for a class of chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers. PBDEs are one of the most common kind of toxic flame retardant used in common household products and materials such as furniture, electronics, textiles, vehicles, and construction materials.

PBDEs are found ubiquitously in Canadian bodies, in our waterways, and in house dust. For example, in the most recent national biomonitoring studies on flame retardants in Canada, PBDEs were found in 75% of tested Canadians, aged 20-79. This study suggested that “the age group with potentially the greatest exposure [to PBDEs] is 0- to 6-month-old breast-fed infants, with breast milk accounting for 92% of the exposure.” A 2012 study of PBDEs in breast milk in Winnipeg and Sherbrooke found 92% and 96% percent of samples contained detectable levels of PBDEs. Because PBDEs and other flame retardants are ubiquitous, pregnant women and breast-feeding infants cannot avoid low-level exposures that may have significant effects during these important windows of development.

Regulation: PBDEs were designated as toxic by the Canadian Government in 2004, yet their regulation has been slow and incomplete. Canada has been slowly moving to regulate PBDEs through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), beginning with the prohibition of the manufacture, use, sale, or import of some PBDEs in 2008 and extending this prohibition in 2016 to all PBDEs. It is important to note that PBDEs have never been manufactured in Canada. These regulations prohibit the use and sale of PBDEs as a product of the chemical industry; however, this regulation also has an important exception that does not extend the prohibition to the import, distribution, or sale of products or parts of components of products that already contain PBDEs. This exception is phrased as such: “[t]hese Regulations do not apply to a product that is formed into a specific physical shape or design during its manufacture and that has, for its final use, a function or functions dependent in whole or in part on its shape or design, if that product contains a polybrominated diphenyl ether [PBDEs].” This is a crucial omission. This exception means that it is not prohibited for an imported product, such as furniture, or a component of a product, like foam that a manufacturer may purchase and then assemble into furniture in Canada, to contain PBDEs. By allowing products with PBDEs to be assembled and sold in Canada, this CEPA regulation does little to stop the exposures from furniture or electronics manufactured elsewhere.

Health Effects: PBDEs are organobromine compounds, and are structurally similar to now-banned PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) which is a well known persistent toxic chemical. Moreover PBDEs are similar in shape to thyroid hormone, and thus interferes with the hormone activities of the body. Both PBDEs and PCBs biomagnify in the food chain. Prenatal exposure to PBDEs can have adverse impacts on fetal development by altering thyroid function in pregnant women;[i] exposures can impact fine motor skills [ii] and attention, [iii] producing neurodevelopmental deficits,[iv] hyperactivity, [v] as well as low birth weights. [vi]Exposure to PBDEs has also been related to disruptions of sexual and reproductive health. Prenatal exposure in male rats reduced sperm count and quality, decreased sex steroids, reduced anogenital distance (the distance between the anus and genitals in males), and contributed to the delayed onset of puberty, which can also happen following juvenile exposure. Exposure to increased levels of PBDEs in breast milk has been linked to an increased risk of undescended testes amongst boys studied in Finland and Denmark. For female rats, low-dose and high-dose exposures have different results, including a reduction in primary ovarian follicles (at low dose exposure), a reduction in secondary ovarian follicles (in high dose exposure), and delayed onset of puberty (at high dose exposure). Moreover, increased PBDE levels are linked to reduced fertility,[vii] as well as an increase in pre-term births.[viii] Finally, a recent study made links between PBDE exposure, metabolic obesity[ix] and enlarged livers, which can contribute to a host of other health issues, such as: type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, gall bladder disease, sleep apnea as well as certain cancers. [x]

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EDAction is a coalition of researchers concerned with the widespread presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in bodies, commodities, built environments, industrial emissions, ecologies, waters, and atmospheres. EDAction researches ways to improve Canadian toxics governance and seeks to advance critical discussions about the regulation, science, and monitoring of endocrine disrupting chemicals guided by the values of reproductive and environmental justice.